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Notable Books of 2014

122 points by dollaaron 12y ago

JSno 12y ago
all crap. I just care about programming books.
ars 12y ago
They should let you filter by genre.
Mchl 12y ago
My personal favourite: 'Information doesn't want to be free' by Cory Doctorow https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20763766-information-doesn-t-want-to-be-free https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20763766-information-doe...
anw 12y ago
For those of you who may have trouble viewing this, I hacked together a little Selenium script to scrape this for you[1]. [1] https://gist.github.com/anonymous/84449fe7860e292e904f https://gist.github.com/anonymous/84449fe7860e292e904f The list: Category: FICTION & POETRY 1. 'All Our Names' by Dinaw Mengestu 2. 'All The Birds, Singing' by Evie Wyld 3. 'All The Light We Cannot See' by Anthony Doerr 4. 'American Innovations' by Rivka Galchen 5. 'The Assassination Of Margaret Thatcher: Stories' by Hilary Mantel 6. 'The Ballad Of A Small Player' by Lawrence Osborne 7. 'Bark: Stories' by Lorrie Moore 8. 'The Blazing World' by Siri Hustvedt 9. 'The Bone Clocks' by David Mitchell 10. 'The Book Of Strange New Things' by Michel Faber 11. 'The Book Of Unknown Americans' by Cristina Henríquez 12. 'Boy, Snow, Bird' by Helen Oyeyemi 13. 'A Brief History Of Seven Killings' by Marlon James 14. 'Can’t And Won’t' by Lydia Davis 15. 'The Cold Song' by Linn Ullmann. Translated by Barbara J. Haveland 16. 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage' by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Philip Gabriel 17. 'Dept. Of Speculation' by Jenny Offill 18. 'The Dog' by Joseph O’Neill 19. 'Euphoria' by Lily King 20. 'Everything I Never Told You' by Celeste Ng 21. 'F' by Daniel Kehlmann. Translated by Carol Brown Janeway 22. 'Faithful And Virtuous Night' by Louise Glück 23. 'Family Life' by Akhil Sharma 24. 'Fourth Of July Creek' by Smith Henderson 25. 'A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing' by Eimear McBride 26. 'I Pity The Poor Immigrant' by Zachary Lazar 27. 'The Laughing Monsters' by Denis Johnson 28. 'Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrel' by tten and illustrated by Anya Ulinich 29. 'Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book' by Richard Ford 30. 'Lila' by Marilynne Robinson 31. 'Lovers At The Chameleon Club, Paris 1932' by Francine Prose 32. 'The Magician’s Land' by Lev Grossman 33. 'The Moor’s Account' by Laila Lalami 34. 'Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals' by Patricia Lockwood 35. 'My Struggle. Book 3: Boyhood' by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Translated by Don Bartlett. 36. 'The Narrow Road To The Deep North' by Richard Flanagan 37. 'Nora Webster' by Colm Toibin 38. 'Panic In A Suitcase' by Yelena Akhtiorskaya 39. 'The Paying Guests' by Sarah Waters 40. 'The Poetry Of Derek Walcott 1948-2013' by ected by Glyn Maxwell 41. 'Redeployment' by Phil Klay 42. 'Remember Me Like This' by Bret Anthony Johnston 43. 'A Replacement Life' by Boris Fishman 44. 'Song Of The Shank' by Jeffery Renard Allen 45. '10:04' by Ben Lerner 46. 'Thirty Girls' by Susan Minot 47. 'Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay: Book 3, The Neapolitan Novels: “middle Time.' by Elena Ferrante. Translated by Ann Goldstein 48. 'The Wallcreeper' by Nell Zink 49. 'We Are Not Ourselves' by Matthew Thomas 50. 'When Mystical Creatures Attack' by Kathleen Founds Category: NONFICTION 1. 'American Mirror: The Life And Art Of Norman Rockwell' by Deborah Solomon 2. 'Being Mortal: Medicine And What Matters In The End' by Atul Gawande 3. 'Building A Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How To Teach It To Everyone)' by Elizabeth Green 4. 'Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant' by tten and illustrated by Roz Chast 5. 'China’s Second Continent: How A Million Migrants Are Building A New Empire In africa' by Howard W. French 6. 'Cubed: A Secret History Of The Workplace' by Nikil Saval 7. 'Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories Of 33 Men Buried In A Chilean Mine, And The Miracle That Set Them Free' by Héctor Tobar 8. 'Demon Camp: A Soldier’s Exorcism' by Jennifer Percy 9. 'Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War' by Robert M. Gates 10. 'Dying Every Day: Seneca At The Court Of Nero' by James Romm 11. 'Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life Of A Mass Murderer' by Bettina Stangneth. Translated by Ruth Martin 12. 'Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story Of An Unlikely Hero And The Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives In World War Ii' by Vicki Constantine Croke 13. 'Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis As Commander In Chief' by James M. McPherson 14. 'The Empathy Exams: Essays' by Leslie Jamison 15. 'Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local — And Helped Save An American Town' by Beth Macy 16. 'The Fame Lunches: On Wounded Icons, Money, Sex, The Brontës, And The Importance Of Handbags' by Daphne Merkin 17. 'Fire Shut Up In My Bones: A Memoir' by Charles M. Blow 18. 'Forcing The Spring: Inside The Fight For Marriage Equality' by Jo Becker 19. 'Gandhi Before India' by Ramachandra Guha 20. 'Geek Sublime: The Beauty Of Code, The Code Of Beauty' by Vikram Chandra 21. 'Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, And Death In The Spanish Civil War' by Amanda Vaill 22. 'The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us' by Diane Ackerman 23. 'The Invisible Bridge: The Fall Of Nixon And The Rise Of Reagan' by Rick Perlstein 24. 'The Invisible Front: Love And Loss In An Era Of Endless War' by Yochi Dreazen 25. 'The Invisible History Of The Human Race: How Dna And History Shape Our Identities And Our Futures' by Christine Kenneally. 26. 'Just Mercy: A Story Of Justice And Redemption' by Bryan Stevenson 27. 'Limonov' by Emmanuel Carrère. Translated by John Lambert 28. 'Little Failure: A Memoir' by Gary Shteyngart 29. 'The Madwoman In The Volvo: My Year Of Raging Hormones' by Sandra Tsing Loh 30. 'Napoleon: A Life' by Andrew Roberts 31. 'No Good Men Among The Living: America, The Taliban, And The War Through Afghan Eyes' by Anand Gopal 32. 'Not I: Memoirs Of A German Childhood' by Joachim Fest. Translated by Martin Chalmers 33. 'On Immunity: An Inoculation' by Eula Biss 34. 'On The Run: Fugitive Life In An American City' by Alice Goffman 35. '100 Essays I Don’t Have Time To Write: On Umbrellas And Sword Fights, Parades And Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, And Theater' by Sarah Ruhl 36. 'The Parthenon Enigma' by Joan Breton Connelly 37. 'Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, And Endless War' by James Risen 38. 'Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life' by Hermione Lee 39. 'Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights' by Katha Pollitt 40. 'The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark For The Ivy League' by Jeff Hobbs 41. 'The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History' by Elizabeth Kolbert 42. 'A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby And The Great Betrayal' by Ben Macintyre 43. 'Stuff Matters: Exploring The Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-made World' by Mark Miodownik 44. 'The Teacher Wars: A History Of America’s Most Embattled Profession' by Dana Goldstein 45. 'Thirteen Days In September: Carter, Begin, And Sadat At Camp David' by Lawrence Wright 46. 'This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. The Climate' by Naomi Klein 47. 'Thrown' by Kerry Howley 48. 'The Trip To Echo Spring: On Writers And Drinking' by Olivia Laing 49. 'The True American: Murder And Mercy In Texas' by Anand Giridharadas 50. 'World Order' by Henry Kissinger
- shicky 12y ago
  thanks for this! You mentioned Selenium, automated tester?
  - anw 12y ago
    No problem. I feel it's good to automate stupid little things like this, and to share those stupid little scripts with the world. And yes, I'm an automated tester. :)
- walterbell 12y ago
  Is Selenium better than other scrapers?
  - anw 12y ago
    I can't speak on too many scrapers, but Selenium offers a whole lot over just Web scraping. It's a wonderful tool to automate functonal tests, perform monotonous tasks, and other handy things. If you do any sort of Web development, I would recommend writing tests using it. It's quite easy to pick up, and is available in different languages, and for different browsers.
yc1010 12y ago
I was happy that "The Martian" won sci-fi book of the year on goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian It is well worth a read and I think HNers and fellow geeks will find it interesting
- gshrikant 12y ago
  I got my copy today! Ordered it after reading a related comment on a previous HN discussion. I have high expectations with this one especially after reading the reviews on Goodreads.
- lmm 12y ago
  If you like that kind of sci-fi I'd recommend Hōsuke Nojiri's books (the two Rocket Girls and Usurper of the Sun).
- cujo 12y ago
  The audiobook was fantastic. Great reader.
- Naga 12y ago
  Honestly, I was quite disappointed with it. I thought the ending was really lacking and didn't fulfill the expectations the rest of the book set up.
davidiach 12y ago
Nassim Taleb said this about the NYT list: "There is close to ZERO probability that a "Notable book" in the NYT will be discussed in 5-20 years. Look at 1990-2009 lists."
- joncameron 12y ago
  OK, but what's the value in that statement–what does "discussed" mean for him? Looking at the 2009 list, there are plenty of books still circulating in discourse. Asterious Polyp and the Dan Chaon, Margaret Atwood and Jonathan Lethem novels are still quite talked about. Without context, I'm going to assume that is this just an acerbic, arms-crossed way to snub a popularly considered list.
- NickPollard 12y ago
  That may be true, BUT I'd wager that the probability of a book not chosen by the NYT is even closer to zero. It's not that the NYT is bad, it's that predicting fads vs. classics at the time of release is a hard problem.
zecg 12y ago
They forgot this one: http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/when-google-met-wikileaks/ http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/when-google-met-wikileaks/

122 points by dollaaron 12y ago

JSno 12y ago

all crap. I just care about programming books.

ars 12y ago

They should let you filter by genre.

Mchl 12y ago

My personal favourite: 'Information doesn't want to be free' by Cory Doctorow https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20763766-information-doesn-t-want-to-be-free https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20763766-information-doe...

anw 12y ago

For those of you who may have trouble viewing this, I hacked together a little Selenium script to scrape this for you[1]. [1] https://gist.github.com/anonymous/84449fe7860e292e904f https://gist.github.com/anonymous/84449fe7860e292e904f The list: Category: FICTION & POETRY 1. 'All Our Names' by Dinaw Mengestu 2. 'All The Birds, Singing' by Evie Wyld 3. 'All The Light We Cannot See' by Anthony Doerr 4. 'American Innovations' by Rivka Galchen 5. 'The Assassination Of Margaret Thatcher: Stories' by Hilary Mantel 6. 'The Ballad Of A Small Player' by Lawrence Osborne 7. 'Bark: Stories' by Lorrie Moore 8. 'The Blazing World' by Siri Hustvedt 9. 'The Bone Clocks' by David Mitchell 10. 'The Book Of Strange New Things' by Michel Faber 11. 'The Book Of Unknown Americans' by Cristina Henríquez 12. 'Boy, Snow, Bird' by Helen Oyeyemi 13. 'A Brief History Of Seven Killings' by Marlon James 14. 'Can’t And Won’t' by Lydia Davis 15. 'The Cold Song' by Linn Ullmann. Translated by Barbara J. Haveland 16. 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage' by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Philip Gabriel 17. 'Dept. Of Speculation' by Jenny Offill 18. 'The Dog' by Joseph O’Neill 19. 'Euphoria' by Lily King 20. 'Everything I Never Told You' by Celeste Ng 21. 'F' by Daniel Kehlmann. Translated by Carol Brown Janeway 22. 'Faithful And Virtuous Night' by Louise Glück 23. 'Family Life' by Akhil Sharma 24. 'Fourth Of July Creek' by Smith Henderson 25. 'A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing' by Eimear McBride 26. 'I Pity The Poor Immigrant' by Zachary Lazar 27. 'The Laughing Monsters' by Denis Johnson 28. 'Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrel' by tten and illustrated by Anya Ulinich 29. 'Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book' by Richard Ford 30. 'Lila' by Marilynne Robinson 31. 'Lovers At The Chameleon Club, Paris 1932' by Francine Prose 32. 'The Magician’s Land' by Lev Grossman 33. 'The Moor’s Account' by Laila Lalami 34. 'Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals' by Patricia Lockwood 35. 'My Struggle. Book 3: Boyhood' by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Translated by Don Bartlett. 36. 'The Narrow Road To The Deep North' by Richard Flanagan 37. 'Nora Webster' by Colm Toibin 38. 'Panic In A Suitcase' by Yelena Akhtiorskaya 39. 'The Paying Guests' by Sarah Waters 40. 'The Poetry Of Derek Walcott 1948-2013' by ected by Glyn Maxwell 41. 'Redeployment' by Phil Klay 42. 'Remember Me Like This' by Bret Anthony Johnston 43. 'A Replacement Life' by Boris Fishman 44. 'Song Of The Shank' by Jeffery Renard Allen 45. '10:04' by Ben Lerner 46. 'Thirty Girls' by Susan Minot 47. 'Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay: Book 3, The Neapolitan Novels: “middle Time.' by Elena Ferrante. Translated by Ann Goldstein 48. 'The Wallcreeper' by Nell Zink 49. 'We Are Not Ourselves' by Matthew Thomas 50. 'When Mystical Creatures Attack' by Kathleen Founds Category: NONFICTION 1. 'American Mirror: The Life And Art Of Norman Rockwell' by Deborah Solomon 2. 'Being Mortal: Medicine And What Matters In The End' by Atul Gawande 3. 'Building A Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How To Teach It To Everyone)' by Elizabeth Green 4. 'Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant' by tten and illustrated by Roz Chast 5. 'China’s Second Continent: How A Million Migrants Are Building A New Empire In africa' by Howard W. French 6. 'Cubed: A Secret History Of The Workplace' by Nikil Saval 7. 'Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories Of 33 Men Buried In A Chilean Mine, And The Miracle That Set Them Free' by Héctor Tobar 8. 'Demon Camp: A Soldier’s Exorcism' by Jennifer Percy 9. 'Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War' by Robert M. Gates 10. 'Dying Every Day: Seneca At The Court Of Nero' by James Romm 11. 'Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life Of A Mass Murderer' by Bettina Stangneth. Translated by Ruth Martin 12. 'Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story Of An Unlikely Hero And The Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives In World War Ii' by Vicki Constantine Croke 13. 'Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis As Commander In Chief' by James M. McPherson 14. 'The Empathy Exams: Essays' by Leslie Jamison 15. 'Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local — And Helped Save An American Town' by Beth Macy 16. 'The Fame Lunches: On Wounded Icons, Money, Sex, The Brontës, And The Importance Of Handbags' by Daphne Merkin 17. 'Fire Shut Up In My Bones: A Memoir' by Charles M. Blow 18. 'Forcing The Spring: Inside The Fight For Marriage Equality' by Jo Becker 19. 'Gandhi Before India' by Ramachandra Guha 20. 'Geek Sublime: The Beauty Of Code, The Code Of Beauty' by Vikram Chandra 21. 'Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, And Death In The Spanish Civil War' by Amanda Vaill 22. 'The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us' by Diane Ackerman 23. 'The Invisible Bridge: The Fall Of Nixon And The Rise Of Reagan' by Rick Perlstein 24. 'The Invisible Front: Love And Loss In An Era Of Endless War' by Yochi Dreazen 25. 'The Invisible History Of The Human Race: How Dna And History Shape Our Identities And Our Futures' by Christine Kenneally. 26. 'Just Mercy: A Story Of Justice And Redemption' by Bryan Stevenson 27. 'Limonov' by Emmanuel Carrère. Translated by John Lambert 28. 'Little Failure: A Memoir' by Gary Shteyngart 29. 'The Madwoman In The Volvo: My Year Of Raging Hormones' by Sandra Tsing Loh 30. 'Napoleon: A Life' by Andrew Roberts 31. 'No Good Men Among The Living: America, The Taliban, And The War Through Afghan Eyes' by Anand Gopal 32. 'Not I: Memoirs Of A German Childhood' by Joachim Fest. Translated by Martin Chalmers 33. 'On Immunity: An Inoculation' by Eula Biss 34. 'On The Run: Fugitive Life In An American City' by Alice Goffman 35. '100 Essays I Don’t Have Time To Write: On Umbrellas And Sword Fights, Parades And Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, And Theater' by Sarah Ruhl 36. 'The Parthenon Enigma' by Joan Breton Connelly 37. 'Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, And Endless War' by James Risen 38. 'Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life' by Hermione Lee 39. 'Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights' by Katha Pollitt 40. 'The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark For The Ivy League' by Jeff Hobbs 41. 'The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History' by Elizabeth Kolbert 42. 'A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby And The Great Betrayal' by Ben Macintyre 43. 'Stuff Matters: Exploring The Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-made World' by Mark Miodownik 44. 'The Teacher Wars: A History Of America’s Most Embattled Profession' by Dana Goldstein 45. 'Thirteen Days In September: Carter, Begin, And Sadat At Camp David' by Lawrence Wright 46. 'This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. The Climate' by Naomi Klein 47. 'Thrown' by Kerry Howley 48. 'The Trip To Echo Spring: On Writers And Drinking' by Olivia Laing 49. 'The True American: Murder And Mercy In Texas' by Anand Giridharadas 50. 'World Order' by Henry Kissinger

shicky 12y ago
thanks for this! You mentioned Selenium, automated tester?
- anw 12y ago
  No problem. I feel it's good to automate stupid little things like this, and to share those stupid little scripts with the world. And yes, I'm an automated tester. :)
walterbell 12y ago
Is Selenium better than other scrapers?
- anw 12y ago
  I can't speak on too many scrapers, but Selenium offers a whole lot over just Web scraping. It's a wonderful tool to automate functonal tests, perform monotonous tasks, and other handy things. If you do any sort of Web development, I would recommend writing tests using it. It's quite easy to pick up, and is available in different languages, and for different browsers.

yc1010 12y ago

I was happy that "The Martian" won sci-fi book of the year on goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian It is well worth a read and I think HNers and fellow geeks will find it interesting

gshrikant 12y ago
I got my copy today! Ordered it after reading a related comment on a previous HN discussion. I have high expectations with this one especially after reading the reviews on Goodreads.
lmm 12y ago
If you like that kind of sci-fi I'd recommend Hōsuke Nojiri's books (the two Rocket Girls and Usurper of the Sun).
cujo 12y ago
The audiobook was fantastic. Great reader.
Naga 12y ago
Honestly, I was quite disappointed with it. I thought the ending was really lacking and didn't fulfill the expectations the rest of the book set up.

davidiach 12y ago

Nassim Taleb said this about the NYT list: "There is close to ZERO probability that a "Notable book" in the NYT will be discussed in 5-20 years. Look at 1990-2009 lists."

joncameron 12y ago
OK, but what's the value in that statement–what does "discussed" mean for him? Looking at the 2009 list, there are plenty of books still circulating in discourse. Asterious Polyp and the Dan Chaon, Margaret Atwood and Jonathan Lethem novels are still quite talked about. Without context, I'm going to assume that is this just an acerbic, arms-crossed way to snub a popularly considered list.
NickPollard 12y ago
That may be true, BUT I'd wager that the probability of a book not chosen by the NYT is even closer to zero. It's not that the NYT is bad, it's that predicting fads vs. classics at the time of release is a hard problem.

zecg 12y ago

They forgot this one: http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/when-google-met-wikileaks/ http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/when-google-met-wikileaks/